


Maternal Instincts

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Canon Het Relationship, Challenge Response, Community: mcsheplets, Community: trope_bingo, Light-Hearted, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney's venting in John's quarters... again... and John really ought to be paying more attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maternal Instincts

**Author's Note:**

> Written to meet several prompts:  
>  **mcsheplets** : #157 Baby  
>  **Ancientctybingo** : Maternal Instinct  
>  **trope_bingo** : Meet the Parents/Family  
> 

Torren was actually quite a good baby. He seemed content for the most part and John suspected that had more to do with Teyla and the serenity that flowed from her. In all the years he had known her, he could count on one hand the number of times she had raised her voice or lost her temper. She was the calm at the center of a storm; the voice of reason in a heated exchange and had diplomacy down to an art form. She seemed to have taken to motherhood with the same grace, and definitely had the right maternal instincts for knowing when Torren was starting to get tired, or hungry, or one of the many other reasons why babies suddenly became fractious and started wailing.

Rodney, on the other hand, was almost her polar opposite. He was a whirlwind of flying hands, snapping fingers and rapid-fire speech. He was loud and quick to raise his voice in anger at some unfortunate underling who'd miscalculated or was acting just plain stupid in Rodney's books. He was often the storm that blew through the city, and he couldn't see the point of diplomacy unless it meant he got his own way. On the few times Teyla had reluctantly left Torren in his care, it took her hours to get the over-stimulated, over-tired and over-sugared toddler to settle down. All in all, John had no doubts about Rodney's lack of parenting skills, so when Keller started talking about meeting her father and settling down Earth-side to raise their 2.4 children, Rodney had a panic attack.

John flipped another page on the latest Golf Monthly magazine, stopping to admire a new set of clubs and wondering whom he could bribe to have them shipped on the _Daedalus_. He flicked his eyes up and offered a noncommittal hum occasionally to keep the rant going, and sighed inwardly as Rodney finally took a breath from his major snit about commitments and fatherhood. John had silently agreed with every single word but he was unwilling to state that out loud. When Rodney started seeing Keller, he had made a personal promise not to interfere and to be as supportive as possible to his best friend. Rodney deserved a little happiness, and the chance of a normal life if that was what he wanted. 

He professed to love Keller and for all their quirks, Keller had professed to love him back.

John wasn't convinced, but it wasn't his place to rock that particular boat. He just hoped one or both of them came to their senses before they took a trip down the aisle and ended up in a miserable, loveless marriage, as he had done with Nancy when he let his need to please his father dictate his actions. He winced at the memory.

"Have you listened to a word I said?"

John gave a tight smile. "You don't think you're ready to have kids."

"What? Yes. No. Obviously! I'd make a terrible father, but that's not what I was saying."

John raised both eyebrows because he thought he'd been following the rant pretty closely despite the allure of the soon-to-be-launched Honma Beres MG710 wood.

"And what are you reading anyway?"

John flipped the magazine so Rodney could read the review, and Rodney snorted. Once he'd learned that Rod was an excellent golfer, Rodney became convinced he could be equally as good. After all, they shared the same DNA, just in different parallel universes. The result... not so much, but golf was not just a matter of skill but also of frame of mind. Rodney was too impatient, and too easily distracted most of the time. On the rare occasions when he was focused on the game, he was actually pretty good, but the trick was getting him to remain focused.

"Huh!" 

Distracted for a moment, Rodney leaned in closer for a better view, close enough that all John would have to do was lean in a little himself and then he could nuzzle the surprisingly soft hair that scented of apple shampoo. Needing to resist the temptation, offhandedly, he pushed Rodney away instead; not that Rodney ever took offense.

"What!?"

"Personal space, Rodney."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Anyway." He straightened, his expression stricken with a mixture of guilt, fear and discomfort. "What do I do?"

John was puzzled. He really didn't think he had been that distracted by the magazine and, yes, by the way Rodney paced his room, he admitted. Watching Rodney was a favorite pastime as long as no one else was around to notice. Certainly Rodney was too oblivious to notice that John spent a lot of the time with his head down as if reading, but with his eyes concealed beneath the hair spilling over his forehead, following Rodney's every move. He loved to watch the play of strong thigh muscles and tight ass, and the stretch of a t-shirt over those broad shoulders. He loved the firm biceps, built up from lifting heavy science equipment around the labs, and the softer paunch of his stomach from a man who was basically fit but not excessively interested in body sculpting in a gym.

"Earth to Flyboy?" Rodney snapped his fingers in John's face, and John slapped his hand away in mild irritation.

"What do I think about what, McKay?"

"See! I knew you weren't listening."

John raised his eyebrows in warning.

"Jennifer! What do I do about Jennifer?" He was wringing his hands now. "About breaking it off?"

John blinked. Rodney wanted to break off his relationship with Keller? Usually it was the other way around with Rodney so he could understand why Rodney was confused over how to proceed. Except...

"You want to end things with Keller?"

"Yes." He blinked rapidly. "And why don't you ever call her Jennifer?" His eyes went large and round. "Oh! You don't like her! Why did I not see that?"

John winced. "Of course I like... Jennifer." 

It was a struggle to say her name and by the way Rodney's eyes narrowed and pinned him down with a blue laser stare, John knew he had noticed the way John had needed to force that name from between his lips.

"No you don't. You really don't like Jennifer." His head tilted as if examining a particularly intriguing specimen under a laboratory microscope. John hated that. "Why? Why don't you like her? She's blond, she's pretty and intelligent even if it is medicine..."

John hated awkward, personal conversations - with anyone - so how was he supposed to explain that he hated the way she tried to change Rodney; hated the way she belittled him for his lack of manners and quick rebukes, even though John had done the same once or twice over the years. It was just the way she did it, and the way she whined about him to everyone who would listen when Rodney wasn't around. He'd watched Rodney try to change for her, watched him try to bite back on acerbic comments whenever she was in earshot, and he had seen Rodney grow more stressed and frustrated at the inability to vent at the stupidity of others in her presence, often ending up venting here in John's quarters hours later instead.

It made everyone else twitchy as well because it simply wasn't... _normal_. And anything out of the norm here on Atlantis was usually dangerous and likely to blow up in their faces at the most inopportune moment. How was John supposed to tell him that the number of reckless incidents had slowly crept up since Rodney started seeing Keller? With his scientists more likely to take stupid risks if they knew they might not have to face the wrath of Rodney.

All of this was true but he really couldn't tell Rodney that his greatest reason for disliking Keller was because _he_ wanted Rodney.

"Oh my... You're jealous!"

"What?" John knew he had flushed in embarrassment as Rodney's accusation came perilously close to the truth. "Of you... and Keller? No!" 

John surged to his feet, tossing the magazine behind him onto the bed, because he really needed to be standing for this. He could see all the variables flitting through Rodney's big brain and knew it was only a matter of time before he worked it...

"You're jealous of Jennifer," he stated in awe.

John felt his world crashing down around him, expecting that awe to turn to disgust at any moment, and wondering how quickly he could escape from his own goddamn quarters. He plastered on a look of irritation, intending to refute Rodney's claim but when he looked straight into Rodney's eyes, the anticipated disgust was absent. Instead, Rodney still looked pole-axed but the shocked expression slowly faded into a beautiful smile that lifted both corners of his often downturn mouth, and shone from his blue eyes.

"All this time I thought-," he waved his hand. "Ascended women, priestesses, Norina, that slutty Traveler woman who shall remain nameless."

"Larrin."

Rodney's eyes narrowed. "I said I didn't want to hear her name."

John looked harder at Rodney, and then he saw it. "That crush on Sam Carter? Katie Brown? Allina... and Keller?"

Rodney looked guilty now. "Yes, well. Homophobic military," he waved towards John, "And I've always consider myself an equal opportunities player."

John thought about that for a second. "Why am I not surprised?"

Rodney gave him a crooked smile. "So. Jennifer? It's not that I'm _not_ ready to meet the family or get married. I simply don't want to. Not with Jennifer."

"What about me?" John asked in an almost offhand way to disguise his fear.

"You?" Rodney rolled his eyes. "I'd give up Atlantis for you. I'd settle down in some backward college and raise fat babies in Dullsville, Idaho, if that's what you wanted. And I'd be happy because I was with you," he stated but John could see the abhorrence in his eyes at even the thought of it, though he knew Rodney meant every word.

He ducked his head to hide his happy smile, and when he looked back up, Rodney was just a single step away. John reached out and grabbed a fistful of Rodney's t-shirt, pulling him into his personal space until they were scant inches apart.

"Personally, I'd prefer to stay on Atlantis and lend my... _maternal instincts_ to ordering around baby scientists and marines."

As Rodney's lips twitched up into a happy smile, John leaned in and kissed him.

END


End file.
